Peeta's Eyes
by HeyArnoldFan21
Summary: Written through Peeta's eyes, It's Catching Fire with a whole new perspective.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! I was thinking of writing another FanFiction, and I'm obsessed with The Hunger Games, and I haven't seen one that's about Catching fire from Peeta's perspective, so I got thinking…Why not? So, this is it!**

**I do not own The Hunger Games…though I wish I did. I'm just playing around with what Suzanne Collins gave me. Enjoy!**

It had been so long; so long since I'd talked to Katniss. Every time I saw her walking through town, an urge to run up and tell her that I forgive her sweeps over me. It was all for the games though; she never really loved me. I get reminded of that every day. Every kiss we shared, all the sweet words were nothing in her mind. It was all just another game the Capitol set up to tear hearts out.

I visited Haymitch often to keep myself busy. I would clean up his house and make him dinner every once in awhile. He didn't like being taken care of, but every week I would find him in a pile of his own throw up; somebody needed to help him.

I was knocked out of thought when I heard a familiar voice screaming at Haymitch.

"Get up, Haymitch. It's tour day!" Katniss yelled at him. The sound of her voice sent my brain into a whirlwind of thoughts; I hadn't heard her speak in so long.

Minutes later, I hear water meeting the ground. I peek in; an empty bucket was being held in Katniss's hand. Next to her was a drenched Haymitch.

I continued working, trying to ignore Katniss's presence. _Tour day_, I thought to myself. Realization swept through me; we were the star-crossed lovers of District 12. It would all have to be played out once again. The cameras would have to capture us being in love. To the rest of the world, we _are _the star-crossed lovers of District 12.

My ears perk up when I hear Katniss say my name. "Look, if you wanted to be babied, you should have asked Peeta," she says with a tone of disgust.

"Asked me what?" I walk out of the kitchen. Katniss looks stunning. I hadn't been in this close of quarters with her since the games. Her hair in her famous braid, draping over her shoulder.

I watch her closely and see her shoulders tense up as she hears me speak. She turns around slowly and looks at me with amazement. Her gray eyes were glistening from the sun peaking through the window.

Haymitch breaks the awkwardness. "Asked you to wake me without giving me pneumonia." He rolls his eyes and passes me his knife to cut the fresh loaf of bread I brought in from the kitchen.

I smile at his sarcasm and wipe the blade clean. I look up from the bread. "Would you like a piece?" I try to ask her as calm as I can. My heart is racing being so close to her and my longing to hold her is increasing.

"No, I ate at the Hob. But thank you," she says, sounding almost scripted. She avoids my eyes completely and continues to stand awkwardly across the table from me.

"You're welcome," I say. I wince at how hostile I sound.

Haymitch notices, and spits, "Brrr. You two have got a lot of warming up to do before show time." I look up at Katniss to see her reaction. Her eyes are hard and her face is unreadable as usual.

"Take a bath, Haymitch," she spits back as she marches out of the house. She barely acknowledged my presence, which hurt me a little. In a few hours we would have to be kissing and cuddling like we have been deeply in love for years. In order to do that, it needs both participants to have mutual feelings.

I stand with the knife in my hand looking in the distance, lost in thought. "I'm going to head home," I say, not recognizing my own voice. Ever since the games, I've changed. People don't talk to me the same; don't look at me the same.

I changed, and that's the last thing I wanted the games to do to me.

I walk stiffly out of the house and hold the rail as I hike down the stairs. My new leg isn't very trustworthy and keeping my balance is a challenge. I peer over at Katniss's house, and see her mother pacing in the kitchen. Behind her are two white figures. My heart stops; Peacekeepers.

I stand in the middle of Haymitch's yard speechless. Do I run over there and demand to know what's going on? Do I do nothing and act like I never saw anything? I choose the second option and run back to my house to get ready for the tour day.

I start running my bath, the Peacekeepers faces running through my mind. The doorbell rings, so I turn off the running water and drag my legs to the door. I turn the handle and before I can react, I'm engulfed by Portia.

"Peeta! You look amazing!" She screams into my ear. I'm completely shocked, so I just stand there, returning her embrace. She puts her hands on my shoulders, and pushes me away so she can get a good look at me. "I'm so proud of you. You look even more handsome then the last time I saw you; if that's even possible!" She forces me into the bathtub as she gets my suit ready.

The whole time I'm thinking of Katniss. _What could Peacekeepers possibly want with her? She's done nothing wrong!_ I submerge my head under the water, letting it calm me down. I_t's the tour day! Maybe she just needs more security or something! _I try to convince myself that she's fine and safe so I don't worry myself to sickness.

Portia bangs on the door. Her voice is muffled by the barrier, "Hurry up, Peeta! We want as much time as possible to get you all spruced up and ready for those cameras!" I sigh and yell back at her that I'll be out in a minute.

I think of poor Katniss, and the hell she's going through with her designers and makeup artists.

Portia and I talk about various things, mostly about how lucky I am to be a mentor of the Quarter Quell my first year. I have no clue how she thinks it's lucky; teaching kids how to not die when they're fighting to the death. I just smile and nod my head. She brings up Katniss every few minutes, asking about our relationship and what we've been doing together. I forget sometimes that they believe she loves me; they believe we're happy. I try to answer as nicely as possible. She tells me about the hot fashion trends this year in the Capitol, which bores me to death, but I don't want to hurt her feelings so I nod my head and smile.

I look in the mirror, and barely recognize myself. The bags underneath my eyes are gone. She complained about how dark and puffy they were, but I didn't tell her how I got them; I didn't want her to hear the truth. Every single night I would wake up shaking and thrashing my limbs from violent and bloody nightmares. Most nights I wouldn't sleep, so I just cleaned up around the house or baked. I wanted to ask Katniss or Haymitch if that happened to them too, but it seemed like a bad idea.

"Alright, Peeta. Strut on out here. Let me see you," Portia yelled. I walked out of my bedroom in my suit, and Portia clapped. "You look so handsome Peeta. You're ready."

I was confused. "Ready for what?"

She laughed a little. "We're doing the first outdoor shot between you and Katniss in a few minutes. We want to see the two lovebirds together again. The whole world wants to see the star-crossed lovers of District 12." She smiles huge and escorts me outside.

As I'm walking down the stairs, I see Katniss smiling and running towards me through the snow. I try my best to do the same, but I'm quite a lot slower than she is. She jumps into my arms, and I catch her easily. I spin her around, but then lose my balance and slip. _That's it, I ruined it. I've ruined the illusion. _Katniss thinks on her toes and presses her lips to mine. I sigh with relief and press into her with a sort of urgency. The longing for our lips to finally meet again overtakes me. After a few seconds, she helps me up and puts her arm through mine. We walk together on our way to the train station.

**Pop in and leave me a review! If I get a few, I'll make the next chapter! Leave me your suggestions; I really appreciate them! Have an amazing day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello people! This chapter is quite long, because I have nothing better to do. Enjoy!**

We ate a feast that consisted of groosling stew, delicious bread from District Four, and to top it all off, a rich chocolate cake. I hadn't eaten this much since the train that took us home after the Games. The whole crew sat around the table, chatting away about the upcoming events, but Katniss and I never spoke a word. We sat as far as possible from each other, which was noticed by everyone, but was never mentioned.

Once I was stuffed, I headed off to my room to get some sleep. I lay in bed, my eyes wide open, for hours. My mind racing with thoughts of Katniss and how quiet she was. I just wanted to reach across the table and tell her I forgive her completely. I couldn't help but feel like she was mad at me.

When sleep didn't come, I walked around my room, trying to think of something that would help me fall into a deep slumber. "Painting," I whispered to myself. I had some paper in the room, with some shading pencils, so I grabbed those and lay in bed. I drew Katniss in the arena, with her bow ready to strike. I always hated how I never did Katniss's beauty justice in drawings; she never looks anywhere near as amazing as she does in person.

Eventually, sleep overtook my body, and I wasn't disturbed that night by vicious nightmares.

I wake up, and turn to the clock; 11:23. I drag myself out of bed and proceed to take a shower. I fumble, once again, with the all the buttons of the shower, but eventually get it to work. I hear knocking on the door, "Come on, Peeta!" It's Portia. "Have a big day ahead of us!" I turn off the shower, barely getting five minutes, and get dressed.

Portia ends up soaking me with a thick lotion, which apparently 'makes my skin glow like the sun!'.

Once she's done coating me in the thick concoction, we head out to the dining car to begin lunch. I'm uneasy that we're starting without Katniss, but nobody seems to notice. When she does walk in, her face looks like she's been through hell. She looks stubborn, as usual, like thousands of thoughts are running through her mind. I try to get her attention, not by speaking, but by staring right at her; she won't look at me. _Is she mad at me? Why is she so angry? _People try and coax her into some of the conversations, but she brushes them off easily.

Suddenly, the train jerks to a stop, and we are informed that a part has broken, and it needs to be replaced. At this, Effie goes into a whole lecture of how being on time is extremely important.

"No one cares, Effie!" Katniss screams over everyone's voices. The whole car goes silent. "Well, no one does!" She says defensively before storming out of the car.

I look around the car; Effie, for once, is speechless. I push out my chair, and follow Katniss. She goes through a door to get some fresh air, so I sneak out behind her. Before I announce my presence, she senses someone is there and snaps, "I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

I sit down next to her. "I'll try and keep it brief."

"I thought you were Haymitch," she says quietly.

"No, he's still working on that muffin," I try to say happily. Her mood doesn't budge. "Bad day, huh?"

"It's nothing," she says, close to a whisper.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself to explain why I followed her. "Look, Katniss, I've been wanting to talk to you about the way I acted on the train. I mean, the last train. The one that brought us home." I pause, because talking about it always hurt. "I knew you had something with Gale. I was jealous of him before I even officially met you. And it wasn't fair to hold you to anything that happened in the Games. I'm sorry." I look at her, waiting for a response. She says nothing, but I can tell my apology takes her by surprise.

"I'm sorry, too," she says.

I take another deep breath and say, "There's nothing for you to be sorry about. You were just keeping us alive. But I don't want us to go on like this, ignoring each other in real life and falling into the snow every time there's a camera around. So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends."

"Okay," she says immediately.

I'm relieved how quickly she answered. She looked away from me again. "So, what's wrong?"

She avoids the question, and picks up a clump of weeds. I sigh. "Let's start with something more basic. Isn't it strange that I know you'd risk your life to save mine…but I don't know what your favorite color is?"

She smiles, so quickly I can barely catch it. "Green. What's yours?"

"Orange," I say quickly.

"Orange? Like Effie's hair?" I giggle at her statement.

I think about it for awhile. "A bit more muted. More like…sunset."

I think about all my paintings; apparently Katniss does too. "You know, everyone's always raving about your paintings. I feel bad I haven't seen them," she says, avoiding eye contact.

I build up the courage and offer her my hand. "Well," I say, "I've got a whole train car full. Come on."

She places her hand in mine lightly and we walk off to the car. My heart is jumping with the touch of her skin to mine.

She stops at the door and says, "I've got to apologize to Effie first."

"Don't be afraid to lay it on thick," I tell her.

She takes my advice and talks like a true Capitol citizen. When she's done speaking, I lead her to the car. When she enters, her hand squeezes mine tighter. I look at her, some sort of fear in her eyes. It's not surprising; I've painted the games.

After a few minutes of silence, I can't take it anymore. "What do you think?"

"I hate them," she says honestly. I was prepared for that answer, but I didn't know how much it would hurt. "All I do is go around trying to forget the arena and you've brought it back to life. How do you remember these things so exactly?"

"I see them every night," I say. It's like letting her see a whole part of me that I've kept secret for so long.

She nods her head slightly. "Me, too. Does it help? To paint them out?" She asks, still examining them closely.

"I don't know. I think I'm a little less afraid of going to sleep at night, or I tell myself I am," I say. "But they haven't gone anywhere."

"Maybe they won't. Haymitch's haven't." I think of poor Haymitch; he's had to go through it for 25 years.

"No. But for me, it's better to wake up with a paintbrush than a knife in my hand…So you really hate them?"

"Yes. But they're extraordinary. Really." I smile. "Want to see my talent? Cinna did a great job on it." I laugh.

"Later." And with that the train lurches forward. "Come one, we're almost to District Eleven. Let's go take a look at it."

We head to the back of the train and immediately see hundreds of cattle grazing on the ongoing fields. Then, like a fish out of water, a huge fence appears, lined with enormous metal plates.

"That's something different," I say quietly.

The crops and wildflowers go on for as long as the eye can see. Shacks are scattered around the place. "How many people do you think live here?" I ask. She shakes her head. After a few minutes of sight-seeing, Effie comes and tells us to get dressed.

I'm put into a plain suit with an orange vest. Effie collects Katniss and me and we go over the plan. We have an already prepared thank you speech, but I wrote a little something extra. It was going to be from Katniss and I because I knew she wouldn't want to speak. She was Rue's ally, and Thresh saved her. I can't imagine the sadness she feels.

We exit the train, immediately surrounded by Peacekeepers. They pile us into the back of a truck. When the doors close, Effie testifies. "Really, you'd think we were criminals."

When we reach the back of the Justice Building, we're hurried inside. It smells like a rotting building, obviously not in use often. Within seconds, the anthem is being played in the square, and microphones are clipped to our outfits. I take Katniss's hand, mostly to keep her calm, but to also keep me steady.

The door's open, and Effie says, "Big smiles!"

We walk out, and get applause. It's packed with hundreds of people, obviously just a fraction of those who live there. At the bottom of the stage, the dead tributes families have their own section. Thresh's side has two people, while rue's side has seven. Five children, all who look younger than 10 and the solemn faces of her parents, stare up at us. I squeeze Katniss's hand tighter, noticing how tense she's getting.

As the applause dies down, the mayor gives his speech and Katniss is handed a bouquet of flowers. I read the script and proceed with my personal comments.

"Both Rue and Thresh made it to the top eight, which is amazing. While Rue was underestimated, she was a little fighter. They kept Katniss alive in their own ways, which gave me a chance to live. I don't how I'll ever be able to repay the families who have suffered," I pause, taking a breath. Effie would kill me if I told her my next statement. "It can in no way replace your losses, but as a token of our thanks we'd like for each of the tributes' families from District Eleven to receive one month of our winnings every year for the duration of our lives." Pure shock spreads throughout the sea of people. I look at Katniss, giving her a sad smile.

Although she doesn't show it, I know Katniss is overjoyed. She turns her body towards me, hops up on her tiptoes, and plants a kiss on my lips.

The mayor gives us both a plaque, which was heavier than it looked. As we're about to depart, Katniss yells, "Wait!" The murmurs die down. All I'm hoping is she doesn't say something she's going to regret. "Wait, please." She steps in front of the microphone. "I want to give my thanks to the tributes of District Eleven. I only ever spoke to Thresh one time. Just long enough for him to spare my life. I didn't know him, but I always respected him. For his power. For his refusal to play the Games on anyone's terms but his own. The careers wanted him to team up with them from the beginning, but he wouldn't do it. I respected him for that." I look to Thresh's side, and see the little old woman smile. She continues. "But I feel as if I did know Rue, and she'll always be with me. Everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the Meadow by my house. I see her in the mockingjays that sing in the trees. But most of all, I see her in my sister, Prim." Her voice begins shaking. "Thank you for your children. And thank you for all the bread." And with that, she's done.

Someone whistles in the crowd; Rue's mockingjay tune. Then, every person in the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand against their lips and extends them to Katniss. We are both speechless. They cut off our microphones and we go back towards the door.

I turn towards her. "Are you alright?"

"Just dizzy. The sun is so bright," she says. "I forgot my flowers."

I take the opportunity to be a gentleman, and say, "I'll get them."

"I can," she insists.

She stops in her tracks, and I turn around with her. The old man who whistled is now on knees, being held down by Peacekeepers. And before we can respond, a bullet is shot through his head.

Before Peacekeepers can block our view, we see him crumple to the ground. I become protective. "We're going!" I yell, pushing away Peacekeepers. "We get it, all right? Come on, Katniss." I put my arm around her shoulders and guide her back into the building.

Waiting below a monitor are Haymitch, Effie, Cinna, and Portia. "What happened?" Effie rushes over. "We lost the feed just after Katniss's beautiful speech, and then Haymitch said he thought he heard gun fire, and I said it was ridiculous, but who knows? There are lunatics everywhere!"

Katniss has no expression. I don't want them to know. "Nothing happened, Effie. An old truck backfired." Before anybody has a chance to register the comment, another two shots are heard.

"Both of you," Haymitch mumbles. "With me."

Haymitch leads us through rooms and passages, and we eventually end up in the dome of the Justice Building. "What happened?" He demands. I tell him everything.

I'm worried. "What's going on Haymitch?"

He turns towards Katniss. "It will be better coming from you."

She explains how the whole country is in trouble. "I was supposed to fix things on this tour. Make everyone who had doubted believe I acted out of love. Calm things down. But obviously, all I've done today is get three people killed, and now everyone in the square will be punished." She lets out a long sigh and sits down.

I take in all the information. "Then I made things worse, too. By giving the money," I say with guilt. Anger fills my body, and without thinking I knock a lamp off the table, smashing it to pieces. "This," I point to the both of them, "has to stop. Right now. This-this-game you two play, where you tell each other secrets but keep them from me like I'm too inconsequential or stupid or weak to handle them."

I wait for a response. "It's not like that, Peeta-"

I cut her off and yell, "It's exactly like that! I have people I care about, too, Katniss! Family and friends back in District Twelve who will be just as dead as yours if we don't pull this thing off. So, after all we went through in the arena, don't I even rate the truth from you?"

Haymitch speaks. "You're always so reliably good, Peeta. So smart about how you present yourself before the cameras. I didn't want to disrupt that."

My anger explodes, but I keep my voice low. "Well, you overestimated me. Because I really screwed up today. What do you think is going to happen to Rue's and Thresh's families? Do you think they'll get their share of our winnings? Do you think I gave them a bright future? Because I think they'll be lucky if they survive another day!" I throw a statue nearby, smashing it against the wall.

Katniss speaks up. "He's right, Haymitch. We were wrong not to tell him. Even back in the Capitol."

"Even in the arena, you two had some sort of system worked out, didn't you?" I ask sternly. "Something I wasn't part of."

"No," Katniss says. "Not officially. I just could tell what Haymitch wanted me to do by what he sent, or didn't send."

"Well, I never had the opportunity. Because he never sent me anything until you showed up." I felt hurt and betrayed.

"Look boy-" Haymitch tries to speak.

"Don't bother, Haymitch. I know you had to choose one of us. And I'd have wanted it to be her. But this is something different. People are dead out there. More will follow unless we're very good. We all know I'm better than Katniss in front of cameras. No one needs to coach me on what to say. But I have to know what I'm walking into," I say.

"From now on, you'll be fully informed," Haymitch says.

"I better be," I spit back before leaving.

That night, Portia helps me get ready for the dinner. She had no clue what happened, so I played it cool and mentioned nothing. She was blinded by her excitement for the dinner.

We all gather around, and everyone notices Effie is out of sorts. She was explaining the schedule for the rest of the day. "And then, thank goodness, we can all get on that train and get out of here," she says.

"Is something wrong, Effie?" Cinna asks.

Effie begins complaining about the mistreatment. She went for a few minutes, explaining everything that's happened. After her speech, we all lined up, Katniss and I in the back. We held each other's hands automatically.

She didn't say anything and I thought it was because she was angry at me for yelling at her. "Haymitch says I was wrong to yell at you. You were only operating under his instructions. And it isn't as if I haven't kept things from you in the past."

She looked at her feet and said, "I think I broke a few things myself after that interview."

"Just an urn," I laugh.

"And your hands. There's no point to it anymore, though, is there? Not being straight with each other?" She says.

"No point." We check our placement in the line of people; fifteen steps behind Haymitch. "Was that really the only time you kissed Gale?" I'm a little disappointed with myself the question, as if that's all I'm thinking about.

"Yes," she answers quietly.

For some reason, relief flows throughout me. I knock myself back into reality. "That's fifteen. Let's do it."

We descend the steps, both putting on the best smiles we can. The Victory Tour goes on like this; the same thing every day. Katniss and I, always linked together, and in an attempt to not speak to anybody during the dinners, we act as though we are deeply in love. We would kiss and cuddle every chance we got.

Almost every night, Katniss wakes up, screaming from nightmares. I usually wake her up and stay with her until she's calm. Then I climb into her bed and hug her till she falls into a deep slumber. It's the best feeling in the world; holding Katniss and not having to worry if she wants me there. Katniss and I soon become the talk of the train and nobody objects.

When we reach the Capitol we are continually making appearances to loud crowds.

We visit the Training Center and Katniss suggests a public marriage proposal. My heart drops. I nod my head and walk out of the room. She's planning this wedding, like its some party; something that can be planned. It can't though; I wanted it so badly to be real.

That night, I propose to Katniss during Caesar's interview and the Capitol goes crazy.

Snow personally thanks us, and all I can think about is, _Were we enough?_

**As usual, leave me a little response on your likes and dislikes! I really enjoy writing these, so I hope you enjoy them, too! Have an amazing week!**


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